1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to lock devices for use in motor vehicles and more particularly to lock devices for locking a vehicle seat, vehicle door, engine hood, trunk lid, seat back and the like. More specifically, the present invention is concerned with a lock device that locks a retractable vehicle seat to a vehicle floor when the seat is pivoted back to its normal in-use position.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of motor vehicles, particularly one-box type passenger motor vehicles, there is a retractable type seat that is permitted to pivot up from its normal in-use position to an upper not in-use position for providing the vehicle floor with a larger free space. In such a seat, a lock device is usually provided for locking the seat when the same is returned back from the retracted position to its normal in-use position for the safety of passengers.
One of the lock devices of such type is shown in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application (Tokkaihei) 8-218711.
The lock device of this publication generally comprises a striker that is fixed to the vehicle floor and has a horizontally extending part, and a lock unit that is fixed to a leg portion of the retractable seat. The lock unit comprises a housing, a latch member installed in the housing and engageable with the horizontally extending part of the striker, a pawl member installed in the housing and capable of locking an engaged condition between the latch member and the striker, a restraining member contactable with the striker and a control lever capable of releasing the locked engaged condition between the latch member and the striker when turned in a given direction. When the retractable seat is in its normal in-use position, the latch member is fully engaged with the horizontally extending part of the striker and locked by the pawl member. Under this seat lock condition, a cam part of the restraining member is tightly pressed against the striker to assure a play-free standing of the seat in the in-use position. When now the control lever is turned in the given or release direction, the pawl member unlocks the engaged condition between the latch member and the striker and at the same time the cam part of the restraining member is released away from the striker. Upon this, the lock unit is released from the striker, and thus, the retractable seat is permitted to pivot upward from the normal in-use position toward the upper not in-use position when applied with a certain external force. The housing is provided with a striker receiving slot for receiving the horizontally extending striker.